ALBANY – Bishop Loughlin was nearly without its inspirational good luck charm.

Lions coach Kasim Alston forgot the jersey of his god daughter Tayshana (Chicken) Murphy he’s carried with him all season at home when the team made the trip upstate Thursday for the New York State Federation tournament. He even put on the jersey in the closing minutes of his team’s CHSAA Class A state final victory.

“I had to call my wife,” he said. “[I told her], ‘Bring the Chicken jersey.’ She just got the jersey today. … Chicken was on the bench and got us through.”

Loughlin saw a 22-point third quarter lead trimmed to three in the game’s closing minutes, but it was able to hold on for a 70-58 win over Rochester East in the Federation Class A girls basketball semifinals at the Times Union Center yesterday. Murphy, who would have been one of the top seniors in the country this year at Murry Bergtraum, was shot and killed Sept. 11. She played her first two high school seasons at Loughlin.

“She’s been a big factor,” Alston said. “I’m not trying to get all spiritual and sentimental, but I really believe she is on that bench with us.”

Rochester East (21-4) got within 61-58 on a layup by Rose Ayala (17 points, 17 rebounds) as the Lions played too fast and didn’t apply as much pressure on the guards. It had limited the Orientals ability to get the ball inside to Ayala as the Lions raced ahead 22-5 after the first quarter and 36-16 at the half. Loughlin (16-12) responded with a 9-0 run to close the game, including a huge three-point play by Jasmine Alston, who had 12 points and eight rebounds.

“They had their run, but we knew at the end we were going to win,” said Jasmine Alston, the coach’s cousin.

Ayana Ratliff paced the Lions with 25 points and Nyree Alston – the coach’s daughter – had 13 for Loughlin. Olivia Colbert added a big hoop with less than a minute to play in the game and her coach congratulated her after the game for her contributions on the boards. Tyra Rose led Rochester East with 20 points and Renetta Fordham added 14 points including three of her four 3-pointers in the third quarter to help spark the Orientals comeback.

Loughlin faces PSAL ‘A’ champion Curtis 12:15 p.m. today in the final. A win would give the Lions the program’s first-ever state Federation crown and complete their season-long mission to honor Chicken and heart she stood for.

“We don’t want to go home yet,” Ratliff said. “We want to win [today]. There is a lot of emotion right now.”